Mukti Mission was founded at Bombay in 1889. This home was for child widows and drew caution and wariness from the community. Ramabai did not set out to convert the girls but only to educate them. Each morning she shared devotions with her daughter Manoramabai with an open door so that if they wanted, the widows in her care were free to come and listen.

Ramabai later moved the School to Pune. She wished the home to be self supporting and with money gifted from America she purchased a farm outside Pune. She named this property Mukti Sadan, the House of Salvation. When news of the famine in Madya Pradesh reached Pandita Ramabai in 1896 she heard the call of God to go out and collect the suffering women and children. Temporary structures were erected at the farm to house the refugees. Permanent buildings were soon constructed at Mukti Sadan and a Church built. By 1900 hundreds had been rescued from the Gujarat Famine and the population at Mukti was almost 2000 women and children.

Plague hit Pune in 1902 and authorities closed down all communal living including Sharada Sadan. So Pandita moved the Sadan from Pune to the farm and incorporated it with the Mukti Sadan. School was held in the Church building. A training school for teachers and an Industrial School with gardens, fields, an oil press, dairy, laundry, sewing, embroidery and weaving was established. The work at Mukti continues today.

India's population of 1.1 billion people includes hundreds of millions who live on the streets with little hope of change or improvement. In this poverty stricken environment, boys are considered an asset to the family and girls are seen as a burden. Girls are the least likely to receive schooling, proper medical care, or even food and are sometimes abandoned.

The vision of Mukti Mission is “To provide a Christ centred home where destitute women and children, irrespective of their background, are accepted, cared for, transformed, and empowered to be salt and light in society.”

Mukti Mission is a place of refuge for the women and children who live there. The residents of Mukti are there for a variety of different reasons, including malnutrition, physical or mental disabilities, abuse and neglect. The women and children are loved, cared for and find purpose for their lives.